OK, fair enough, yes, it’s understandable,but, at the same time why not look at it as a business opportunity. Settle out of court and create a brand together that takes Vogue to a whole new market.
Fashion Blog reports…
Vogue Magazine is taking Black Vogue to court. Advance Publications, Vogue and Condé Nast’s parent company, filed suit against 26-year old designer and activist Nareasha Willis late last week in a New York federal court, alleging that the name of her collection is a bit too similar to the name of its 125-year old marquee magazine and as a result, is likely to cause confusion amongst consumers, and damage to its well-known and “highly acclaimed” Vogue trademarks.
According to Advance’s complaint, while it has been using the federally-protected Vogue trademark for the past 125 years on magazines (as well as on an increasingly “wide variety of goods and services,” including “advertising and e-commerce services, software applications for content in the field of fashion, hand bags, tote bags, purses, luggage, wallets, body creams, scented candles, jigsaw puzzles, nightclub and restaurant services, clothing and jewelry”), Ms. Willis “has very recently begun using the trademark Black Vogue in commerce, for the purposes of selling apparel items.”
Advance asserts that the Black Vogue mark “mirrors the well-known font and stylization of [Advance’s] long registered Vogue trademark” and that “in selecting the trademark Black Vogue for her products, [Willis] intends to create a link between herself and [Vogue], creating the appearance that [Advance] is affiliated with [Willis’] products, or that [Advance] has licensed or otherwise authorized her use of the Vogue trademark, when that that is not the case.”
It turns out, the Black Vogue line first came on Advance’s radar earlier this year after Willis filed a trademark application with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (“USPTO”) to register Black Vogue for use on an array of garments and accessories, including hoodies, baseball caps, track pants, trench coats, and swimming trunks. As Advance accurately sets forth in its complaint, “On May 23, 2018, the USPTO refused registration of [Willis’] Black Vogue trademark,” holding that it “is confusingly similar to several of [Advance’s] registered Vogue trademarks.”
“Immediately upon learning of [Willis’] trademark application” in June, Advance alleges that its legal team sent Willis a letter, “requesting that [she] cease her use of the infringing Black Vogue mark and abandon her pending trademark application.”
